AIM listed Atlantis Resources has announced it has secured €7.7m in grant funding from the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development.

The EC funding will support deployment of multi tidal-turbine arrays at the business’ MeyGen tidal energy site and will be supported by DHI, Royal HaskoningDHV and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Scheduled to run from 2014, the programme will facilitate the design, installation and operation of the company’s 1.5MW AR1500 tidal energy turbines in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, off the north coast of Scotland.

Tim Cornelius, Atlantis chief executive officer, said: “The award of this grant is a major endorsement of Atlantis, our industry-leading technology, suite of projects and the quality of our management and deployment teams. It will help to catalyse the industry’s development, providing a credible and robust transition pathway from single turbine demonstration units, to the deployment of multi-hundred turbine arrays in Europe and across the wider international market.”

The announcement follows Atlantis’ admission to the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange and its successful initial public offering and associated £12m placing.

Cornelius explained: “Today’s EC funding announcement caps an exciting, and extremely busy, few months for Atlantis Resources. Taken with the £12m that we have raised through IPO, this grant means that the business is in a strong financial position to deliver its projects. The capital raised through IPO will go towards the delivery of the first stage of MeyGen, but will also fund the detailed design of the AR1500 turbine with Lockheed Martin and our AR1000 demonstrator project in China.”